[Greggles]

As a keen user of Leica M6 and MP 35mm rangefinder cameras, I have been slow to move into the digital medium. I currently use a Canon Powershot Pro1, but am now keen to get a "proper" camera. I've looked at the usual suspects (Canon, Nikon etc) but nothing has really taken my fancy. One camera which does appeal (and not just because of the Leica lens) is the Lumix L1. Does anyone have any experience with this camera as it seems a bit of a departure for Panasonic? I've been offered a very good deal on it.

[Radiohead]

Have a look at the review in this week's British Journal of Photography:

Panasonic's first foray in the to DSLR market, the DMC-L1, looks great but, says Steve Hynes, unfortunately doesn't handle as well

It is very unusual to hear a camera manufacturer welcome the arrival of a competitor's product. But this is what a gathering of journalists heard from a senior Olympus representative during a recent product launch in Hamburg. He mentioned the arrival of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1, not as a threat, but as proof that the Four Thirds system has a bright future. His relief at the emergence of a rival product was understandable. When Olympus launched its first Four Thirds camera, the E-1, three years ago, it was with the promised support of a consortium that included Kodak and Fuji. With these heavyweights involved the open-architecture system stood a chance of gaining the momentum needed to carve out a viable chunk of the SLR market. Since then, however, neither of these signatories has shown any interest in the system. Olympus has had to row the Four Thirds boat alone, so Panasonic joining the fold with a product rather than a promise must have been a great relief.

The DMC-L1

The Panasonic camera is actually the fruit of close co-operation with Olympus. The Olympus E-330 uses a Panasonic chip, marking the move away from the Kodak chips used in the earlier Four Thirds models. Panasonic, with no experience in SLR production, has borrowed heavily on Olympus hardware. The DMC-L1 is really just Olympus E-330 innards, including the same 7.4MP sensor, inside a different body. Being a Four Thirds camera, it accepts all Olympus lenses as well as compatible optics produced by companies such as Sigma. However, Panasonic fits the camera with a Leica lens, the D Vario-Elmarit, manu- factured by Panasonic under licence. This has a focal range from 14-50mm and a variable maximum aperture of f/2.8-3.5, near identical in aperture and coverage to the 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 lens produced by Olympus. However it differs by offering optical image stabilisation, known as Mega OIS. This works by moving a lens element to compensate for camera movement and results in the lens being larger in diameter to accommodate the system. The image stabilisation system is contained entirely within the lens, which allows it to work when the lens is fitted to any Four Thirds camera. It also has the advantage of allowing the user to see the effect in the viewfinder, unlike sensor-based stabilisation, which works just as well but gives the user no visual feedback. The downside is that the system has to be replicated in every lens, making it an expensive option if building up a comprehensive system.

Panasonic has played heavily on the Leica connection, fashioning the body to mimic the flat-topped, squared-off look of the rangefinder models. This styling has been facilitated by using the porro viewfinder system developed by Olympus. This eliminates the pentaprism lump, replacing the prism by a set of mirrors.

Layout

The retro styling extends to the placement of major controls. Aperture is controlled by a ring on the lens, rather than the command dial usually found on modern cameras. Shutter speeds are controlled by a dial on the top plate, again reminiscent of the Leica layout. The aperture and shutter dials are both calibrated in 1/3-stop increments. There is no exposure mode dial. Instead, the aperture ring and shutter dial both have an additional position labelled A. When the shutter speed dial is set to this position, aperture priority auto exposure is activated. Selecting A on the aperture ring activates shutter priority auto exposure; setting both dials to A selects program mode. The shutter speed dial gives direct access to speeds from 1/2s to 1/1000s. Faster speeds (up to 1/4000s) or slower (down to 60s, plus B), are accessed via a separate command dial on the camera back. It's a clumsy arrangement, but tolerable because these shutter speeds are not accessed all that often.
The use of an aperture ring has required a work-around to make the body compatible with non-Leica lenses, which don't have a ring. Setting the aperture with an Olympus or Sigma lens fitted involves pressing a function button, then operating the command dial on the camera back. This is a very clumsy arrangement and would be a constant pain in the neck if working with a mixture of lenses. Given that inter-brand compatibility is the main selling point of the Four-Thirds system, it would surely have made more sense to forego the styling flourish of an aperture ring in the interests of seamless compatibility. When such styling takes precedence over functionality, a manufacturer should question its priorities.

The lens has the solid look and feel expected of a Leica optic, with superbly clear markings and silky smooth controls. The few pictures taken with it indicated that it also produces the sort of optical performance expected of a lens bearing the Leica name. However, this review does not include any technical tests because the lens developed a fault before they could be carried out. Something came adrift inside the lens and caused the zoom control to lock up.

Panasonic replaced both camera and lens so that the test could continue, but these too were faulty. This camera would not power up and it failed to respond to any of the usual tricks. The battery checked out okay, and using the mains adaptor didn't help. On a hunch, I fitted an Olympus lens and the camera sprang into life. But although it allowed the settings to be altered, it still would not take a picture. Incredibly bad luck, or a quality control problem? It's impossible to say without waiting for feedback from a much larger sample.

Live viewing of the scene via the LCD monitor was introduced by Olympus on the E-330, and it has been implemented in a modified form by Panasonic. In the E-330 there are two live view modes, one taking its image from a dedicated low-resolution sensor positioned behind a semi-transparent mirror in the mirror box, the other using the main sensor with the mirror up and the shutter open. The Panasonic offers only the latter method, although it has the same mirror box, complete with that semi-transparent mirror. This robs light from the optical image path, resulting in a very dim viewfinder, without gaining anything in return. Even in good light, it is very difficult to access focus.

Using live view introduces a big delay because so much has to happen between pressing the shutter and the picture being taken. When the system is activated the mirror swings up and the shutter opens. When the shutter button is pressed the shutter closes, the mirror goes down, autofocus takes place, the mirror swings up again and the shutter makes the exposure. The delay rules out any sort of action photography or catching a momentary expression. It could be used for still life, landscapes or static macro work, but the optical viewfinder could be easily used under these circumstances.

When Olympus fitted the system to the E-330, it added a pivoting monitor, making it possible to compose images from a low shooting position. The Panasonic has a fixed monitor, so this added functionality is not available. This makes the live view feature rather pointless.

Specification

The general specification is similar to the Olympus donor camera. The AF system uses the same three-point arrangement employed by all the Olympus models so far. While this is reasonably fast and accurate, it's a bit dated and does not have the flexibility of the multi-point systems offered by most other brands. Exposure patterns are the usual matrix, centre-weighted and spot. Continuous shooting speed can be set to two or three frames per second - again a bit behind the competition in this sector of the market. One of the neat features inherited from the donor camera is the supersonic dust removal system, until recently unique to Olympus. This system really does work, saving an awful lot of hassle cleaning the sensor manually. A similar system has just been introduced by Canon in the 400D, but it's still a rarity. Images from the 7.4MP sensor can be captured in RAW format and three levels of JPEG quality, or both together. They are stored on an SD card. The pixel dimensions are 3136 x 2352, equating to a print size of 10.5x7.8 inches at 300dpi, without interpolation. The sensitivity ranges from ISO 100 to 1600. Raw images are developed using the supplied Silkypix software. This is easy to master and quite comprehensive in its range of image adjustments. However, it only allows images to be saved as JPEGs. With no facility for creating 8-bit or 16-bit TIFFS, it really can't extract the best possible quality from the captured images.

Fortunately, the Adobe RAW converter recognises the images and does a much better conversion, particularly on a noisy high ISO image.

Conclusion

As a first effort from a manufacturer moving into this highly competitive area, I had hoped for something better than the DMC-L1. To make an impact, a manufacturer needs to move the game along, but Panasonic has just given us what is already available from Olympus, albeit with a very nice image stabilised lens. The viewfinder is awful, the ergonomics suffer for the sake of style, the software is limited and the general specification is toward the bottom of the pack.

At a list price of £1500 including VAT it is priced well above cameras of much higher specification and performance, in some cases more than double. But, hey, it looks great and feels wonderfully solid. Photo-graphic jewellery, anyone?

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It certainly looks expensive against the likes of the D200 and I'd take a 5D over it all day long.

[bodoman]

check out `the classic camera-leica shop` web site, it has the leica version of the panasonic,(digilux 3) dont know if its any good, but theres a pic and spec of it.

(looks good though)